FIC: IS JUST A KISS AWAY
Title: Is Just A Kiss Away
Author: carolinablu85
Pairing: Luke/Noah
Rating: PG-13 for little bit of language
Word Count: 3,063
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Less than nothing.
Summary: He smiled, somewhere between sly and shy. It was way too good of a look on him. (AU!fic)
A/N: Written for the second nuke_anon challenge with the prompt "Beginnings." Title is from the Rolling Stone's song "Gimme Shelter."
If Luke could play the Anywhere But Here game right now, he would literally pick anywhere but here. And sure, that made him feel kind of shitty, but he couldn’t help it. What felt like the worst day of his life, in the end of the worst week, part of the worst month ever, was wrapping up here: touring a Chicago center for underprivileged gay youths.
It was like God and his mother were conspiring to teach him a lesson or something.
He kept the sigh on the inside as best as he could and followed his mother and the center director through another corridor. Somehow, some way, Lily heard the sigh anyway and shot him a look over her shoulder. He instinctively squared his shoulders and stood straighter, trying to look as professional as a 17 year old possibly could.
“So this is what we call the After School Wing,” the director was explaining. “We have tutoring, art classes, a music room. We’re working with the local library to get them to donate books to help out our reading room.”
“That’s wonderful,” Lily enthused. “Isn’t it, Luke?” Which was her way of saying If you sigh one more time I will drag you through the rest of this tour by the ear.
Luke got himself to nod along. “What’s down that way?” he asked, pointing to a set of doors and long stretch of hallway behind them. He figured looking interested would keep his mom from scowling at him again.
The director glanced in the direction he had pointed. “Oh, that’s our housing section.”
“Wait, housing?” both Luke and Lily stopped to stare at the director. “People... people live here? Kids?”
She nodded. “We noticed pretty soon after we opened, some of the students had nowhere to go when we closed up for the evening. Kids that have been kicked out for being gay, have run away, don’t feel safe at home, that sort of thing. Right now, we have about twenty living here, ranging from 14 to 22 years old. The older ones generally help out with tutoring and center upkeep and such.”
“So you’re basically running a homeless shelter as well?” Lily asked, eyes sad.
The woman (Tricia? Had that been her name? Luke suddenly wished he remembered) nodded again. “It’s the main reason we contacted your foundation. Adding the housing to our center,” she shrugged, for a moment not looking like the businesswoman she had been up until now. “We need some help.”
Great, now God, his mom, and Tricia were all conspiring to teach him a lesson.
They continued on the tour, Luke paying more attention to the details now, the worn paint job chipping at the corners of each wall, the slightly out of date appliances, the secondhand furniture.
The tour finished up back where they had started, in the common room where many of the kids were hanging out. Tricia started to usher them towards her office, but a sudden thought had Luke hanging back. “Would it be all right if, if I checked out the reading room?” Books, libraries- that was an environment he could be comfortable in.
Tricia smiled. “Absolutely!” She looked around for a second, then focused on a volunteer who was helping some younger kids stack up scattered board games in one corner. “Noah, honey, can you show Luke our library?”
The volunteer looked up, almost startled at first, before nodding and stepping forward. “It’s down this way,” he nodded to a hallway to their left, smiling politely.
Luke would’ve smiled back just as politely, or offered his hand or something, but he was too busy trying oh-so-very hard not to drool. Noah the Volunteer was beautiful. Not a word Luke was prone to using, but holy crap. Tall, slim, sweater pulling a little tight over arms and chest, bright blue eyes, scruffy dark hair...
Luke shook his head. He’d never taken the time to figure out if he had a “type” before, but now? He was pretty comfortable saying Noah was his type.
“Luke?” Thank God Lily was there to stop him from staring for an embarrassing amount of time. “We’ll come find you as soon as we’re doing going over the papers in Tricia’s office.”
“Okay, sure,” Luke nodded, already following Noah out of the room. They walked in silence for a few seconds before he had to start talking again. “So how long have you worked here?”
Noah glanced over at him, face guarded and shy. “Worked?”
His expression, combined with the confused tone, left Luke wanting to smack himself. “I thought you were a volunteer,” he explained, hoping it sounded like an apology and not sure why.
The other boy (he did look to be Luke’s age), shook his head, offering a smile again. “I guess I do, to help out and stuff. Would feel weird staying here if I didn’t pitch in.”
“Do you live here?” he asked softly, chest tightening at the thought. Who turned this person out of their house, seriously?
Noah nodded. “Since they started letting people crash here, yeah. Sometimes before that, even. If I could.” He paused in front of door, holding it open for Luke. “Reading room.”
Luke entered, looking the room over, its built-in homemade shelves stuffed with books. Handwritten signs were taped to each set of shelves, labeling different categories. “This is great,” he murmured, amazed at how much had been made from scratch.
Noah shifted a little on his feet. “Yeah, I guess.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Are you really going to give us money? Help us out?”
Luke looked back at him sharply. “How did you know about that?”
He blushed. (Oh good Lord, he’s a blusher.) “Tricia told us you were coming in so I, um, Googled you. Your foundation, I mean,” he added quickly.
Luke smiled. Grinned, even. “Well, nothing’s set in stone, it’ll be up to the board of the foundation. But, yeah. I want to.” He was a little surprised at how much he meant it. He studied Noah again. “How long have you been here?” he asked a bit more gently this time.
“Little over a year,” Noah answered reluctantly. “Since I was sixteen.”
Two years. Wow. But Luke did note two things- Noah was his age, and he was gay. Two very good things, in Luke’s opinion. “Are you going to college?”
Noah shook his head. “Can’t afford it. Yet,” he amended firmly. “I work at the diner down the street, trying to save up money, but,” he lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “It takes time.”
“I’m not going to college either,” Luke heard himself say. It shocked him more than it shocked Noah- it wasn’t something he normally liked talking about. He offered up a deprecating smile. “It’s not really for me. At least not right now. The things from high school I want to forget would just follow me there. I'm not ready yet, and sometimes life just kind of-”
“Gets in the way,” Noah finished for him with a nod. They shared the smile now.
“Yeah,” he said, sitting down on one of the worn couches in the center of the room. “Can I- can I ask how you ended up here?” He scooted over in the seat, silently inviting Noah to sit too.
He was surprised at how quick Noah’s hesitation was, and pretty soon that epically long body was sitting next to him, one leg curling up beneath him. “You can. Unless that was you asking, and now you’ll have to ask again,” he said, looking at him sideways.
Luke narrowed his eyes, still smiling. “Are you teasing me?”
Noah held up his thumb and forefinger, pinched together. “Little bit.”
Luke laughed, relaxing back some more. “You’ve been here a year?”
He grew quieter. “About, yeah. When I, well, I accidentally came out to my dad, and he kind of flipped. I really thought he was going to lock me in the basement until the army recruiters could come cart me away to basic training. But no, next day he informs me that he’s been reassigned to a new base out of state, and I’m not going with him. Not allowed to go with him.”
It was pretty silent after that. Luke made the effort to make sure he wasn’t staring, but it was hard. Whoa. It wasn’t quite the story he had been expecting, not that he had had any idea. “He just... left?”
Noah scrunched up one side of his face. It was probably supposed to be a sardonic smile, but Luke could only see how adorable it looked. “I guess. He was all packed up when I woke up the next morning. I took what was mine and watched him drive off.” He looked around the room. “Ended up here a few weeks later.”
Weeks? Luke wanted to ask but didn’t want to know the answer. How far away was that army base from here? Had Noah traveled that whole time? Had he been living on the streets that whole time? And how cliché of a phrase was ‘living on the streets’?
Noah was talking again. “When I first got to this place, I was terrified. I didn’t know if my dad would come back looking for me, or if, I don’t know, cops would be after me or some child services thing. First few weeks I was here, I didn’t even give my real name.”
“What did you use?” he asked curiously, before he could stop himself.
“Grant,” he answered, blushing yet again. “For Cary Grant. First thing I could think of. It’s lame, I know, but I also thought it would be something my dad would never think of. I wanted to hide from him.”
Luke was so a goner now. He cleared his throat, wanting to give something back. “My biological father tried to send me away when he found out last year.” Noah turned to him, blush fading some, eyes warm and interested. “I mean, I know I’m lucky. My other dad-the one who adopted me- is ridiculously supportive, and my mom got over her issues and now she’s,” he waved a hand back towards the direction of Tricia’s office. “She’s this.”
“She seems pretty amazing,” Noah murmured. Luke realized there had been no mention of a mother from Noah. Jesus.
“She is,” Luke agreed. “But my bio dad, he spent a week in town lying to me, manipulating, making me think he was on my side.”
“Until?” Noah’s voice, while gentle, held a note of anticipation to it. It was more than just being interested, Luke could tell. Noah liked storytelling. Luke’s stomach butterflied at that. Definitely, definitely his type.
He went back to his story. “He tried to force me to go to a, well, he called it an Affirmation Retreat. Really? It was a de-gaying camp. Brainwashing, reprogramming, whatever. It was bad.” Understatement. Luke could still remember the coldness of their faces, Damian’s determination. The van ride from hell. And then, just before reaching the camp, Holden and Jack Snyder blazing in like the Dukes of Hazard, pulling the van over and pulling Luke to safety.
“Where is he now?” Noah asked softly, pulling Luke back to the present.
Luke shrugged. “Europe, somewhere. My dad- the good one- sort of ran him out of town. He never wanted to accept that I was gay. Still hasn’t, as far as I know. My foundation? I started it with money he gave me, like he was trying to buy me straight or something.” He shrugged. “It didn’t really work.”
“And now you’re helping a bunch of other gay kids who need it,” Noah looked down, inspecting his hands. “That’s... that’s pretty cool of you.”
It sounded like the best compliment he’d ever heard, and now he was the one blushing. “Thanks,” he said softly. Then shook his head. “You, though, what you’ve been through... I can’t even imagine. You’re incredible, Noah.” When Noah’s head whipped up to look at him, shocked, he tried to backpedal. “Your life, I mean. What you’ve had to deal with, what you’re doing now? It’s incredible.”
Somehow, he wasn’t surprised when Noah shrugged that off. “I haven’t done anything.”
“You got yourself here,” Luke insisted. “You’re working, planning for school, figuring out your life. And helping out here. Not everyone would do that."
“You would,” Noah replied, looking like he didn’t even mean to say it out loud. “You kind of are now, aren’t you?” He shifted in his seat, which invariably brought him the tiniest bit closer to Luke. Luke didn’t mind. “Look, I know the center seems ragged and maybe like a waste of time, and I know this is about finding out what it’s really-”
“What what is about?” Luke twisted around to face Noah fully, confused.
“This,” he waved a hand between them. “Talking to me. I get it, Tricia’s trying to sell it to you, so she probably wouldn’t give you what it’s really like, and I can. But I want you to know, this place really deserves whatever help your foundation can give. I wouldn’t be here without it, if more money’s going to get more kids-”
“Whoa. Wait, wait!” Luke, on instinct, grabbed Noah’s hand, stilling it. “I’m talking to you because I want to talk to you. I’m not- this isn’t an interview, Noah. I want to know you. I... I like you.” And he really did. Noah was sincere, kind, calm. He had a quiet sense of humor and was obviously determined and smart to get himself this far on his own.
Noah’s eyebrows raised slowly. “You like me?”
Luke held up his thumb and forefinger, pinched together. “Little bit.” His other hand, he belatedly realized, was still holding Noah’s. With all the reluctance in the world, he casually let go. Noah’s hand hovered in midair for a second, like he wasn’t sure what to do with it now. And in that second, Luke was half-tempted to grab it again.
His face still red, Noah shrugged. “I’m, uh, sort of new to that stuff. The liking stuff.”
“Really?” Luke grinned. “You’re really telling me guys aren’t flirting with you every chance they get?”
Noah got a half-scandalized look on his face, like that was the most ridiculous thing in the world. “It’s not like the center has a Romantic Italian Restaurant wing. What would I do?”
Luke nudged him in the side with his elbow. “Hm, so that’d be your game, romantic Italian restaurants?”
He sputtered around an answer. “I don’t know. Yeah, maybe. Like,” he smiled, somewhere between shy and sly. It was way too good of a look on him. “If, say, I were to meet someone like you? And actually ask you out? Yeah,” he locked eyes with Luke. “I’d take you somewhere like that.”
Luke was silent and staring for a moment. “You sure you’ve never done the liking stuff before? You’re pretty good at it.”
Noah ducked his head a little, though his eyes never strayed from Luke’s. “I have some good inspiration,” he murmured.
Done. Luke was done. He moved up on his knees on the couch, leaned forward, and as gently as he could, pressed a kiss to Noah’s mouth. He had to. He had to know if Noah’s lips were as sweet as his words.
Turns out they were.
Footsteps passing by outside the door had him remembering exactly where he was. He sat back again, or at least tried to. But Noah just grabbed him and pulled him close, kissing him this time, and doing a damn good job of it. This time when they pulled back it wasn’t because of footsteps. It was lack of air.
Noah reached out, a little tentative, and tucked strands of Luke’s hair back behind his ear. “I’m going to be sad when you leave,” he said simply.
“God, I forgot I-” Luke grabbed Noah’s hand. “I didn’t mean this to be like a one-kiss-stand or anything, Noah. I really do like you. This wasn’t a, what did you call it, an interview. I...” he trailed off, a spark starting to form in his brain.
Noah was smiling at his rambling and frowning at the same time. “You what?”
“Noah, um,” Luke smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging way. “So, this Friday my mom and I are presenting the file on this center to our board for their approval. You know what might help the case?”
“What?”
“You,” he answered excitedly. “You could come to the meeting, tell your story, tell them how much the center means to you, how much it’s helped you. It would be perfect! Show them exactly who would be benefiting from the money.”
“M-me?” Noah stuttered.
“Of course,” Luke’s enthusiasm faded just a little, realizing Noah’s tension. “I mean, you don’t have to tell your whole story, or anything personal at all really. It was just an idea. I think you would do great.” He nudged Noah lightly again. “It worked on me, didn’t it?”
Noah smiled now, relaxing again. “And you- you’d be there with me, right?”
He was still holding Noah’s hand. It didn’t feel like enough now, so he leaned in and brushed a kiss across his cheek. “Absolutely. And really, there’s more incentive to do this.”
“And what’s that?” Noah was smiling. He was going to agree, Luke could just feel it.
He shrugged casually. “Oakdale’s not far from here. I mean, if you wanted to make the trip, you could always stay a little while. At least for dinner. I mean, my grandma makes some really good Italian food, if you’re into that sort of thing.”
Noah studied him for a minute, before a smile slowly spread across his face. It was one Luke hadn’t seen on him yet. Pure. Joyful. Enough to make Luke’s stomach butterfly itself up again.
“Yeah,” Noah said, his voice cracking for less than a second. “Yeah. I could be into that sort of thing.”
Luke wanted to kiss him again, but his mother’s voice from down the hallway stopped him. He stood instead, holding his hand out to pull Noah to his feet too. Maybe he couldn’t kiss Noah right now, but they had time. Just the beginning.
After all, Luke was into this sort of thing, too.
Author: carolinablu85
Pairing: Luke/Noah
Rating: PG-13 for little bit of language
Word Count: 3,063
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Less than nothing.
Summary: He smiled, somewhere between sly and shy. It was way too good of a look on him. (AU!fic)
A/N: Written for the second nuke_anon challenge with the prompt "Beginnings." Title is from the Rolling Stone's song "Gimme Shelter."
If Luke could play the Anywhere But Here game right now, he would literally pick anywhere but here. And sure, that made him feel kind of shitty, but he couldn’t help it. What felt like the worst day of his life, in the end of the worst week, part of the worst month ever, was wrapping up here: touring a Chicago center for underprivileged gay youths.
It was like God and his mother were conspiring to teach him a lesson or something.
He kept the sigh on the inside as best as he could and followed his mother and the center director through another corridor. Somehow, some way, Lily heard the sigh anyway and shot him a look over her shoulder. He instinctively squared his shoulders and stood straighter, trying to look as professional as a 17 year old possibly could.
“So this is what we call the After School Wing,” the director was explaining. “We have tutoring, art classes, a music room. We’re working with the local library to get them to donate books to help out our reading room.”
“That’s wonderful,” Lily enthused. “Isn’t it, Luke?” Which was her way of saying If you sigh one more time I will drag you through the rest of this tour by the ear.
Luke got himself to nod along. “What’s down that way?” he asked, pointing to a set of doors and long stretch of hallway behind them. He figured looking interested would keep his mom from scowling at him again.
The director glanced in the direction he had pointed. “Oh, that’s our housing section.”
“Wait, housing?” both Luke and Lily stopped to stare at the director. “People... people live here? Kids?”
She nodded. “We noticed pretty soon after we opened, some of the students had nowhere to go when we closed up for the evening. Kids that have been kicked out for being gay, have run away, don’t feel safe at home, that sort of thing. Right now, we have about twenty living here, ranging from 14 to 22 years old. The older ones generally help out with tutoring and center upkeep and such.”
“So you’re basically running a homeless shelter as well?” Lily asked, eyes sad.
The woman (Tricia? Had that been her name? Luke suddenly wished he remembered) nodded again. “It’s the main reason we contacted your foundation. Adding the housing to our center,” she shrugged, for a moment not looking like the businesswoman she had been up until now. “We need some help.”
Great, now God, his mom, and Tricia were all conspiring to teach him a lesson.
They continued on the tour, Luke paying more attention to the details now, the worn paint job chipping at the corners of each wall, the slightly out of date appliances, the secondhand furniture.
The tour finished up back where they had started, in the common room where many of the kids were hanging out. Tricia started to usher them towards her office, but a sudden thought had Luke hanging back. “Would it be all right if, if I checked out the reading room?” Books, libraries- that was an environment he could be comfortable in.
Tricia smiled. “Absolutely!” She looked around for a second, then focused on a volunteer who was helping some younger kids stack up scattered board games in one corner. “Noah, honey, can you show Luke our library?”
The volunteer looked up, almost startled at first, before nodding and stepping forward. “It’s down this way,” he nodded to a hallway to their left, smiling politely.
Luke would’ve smiled back just as politely, or offered his hand or something, but he was too busy trying oh-so-very hard not to drool. Noah the Volunteer was beautiful. Not a word Luke was prone to using, but holy crap. Tall, slim, sweater pulling a little tight over arms and chest, bright blue eyes, scruffy dark hair...
Luke shook his head. He’d never taken the time to figure out if he had a “type” before, but now? He was pretty comfortable saying Noah was his type.
“Luke?” Thank God Lily was there to stop him from staring for an embarrassing amount of time. “We’ll come find you as soon as we’re doing going over the papers in Tricia’s office.”
“Okay, sure,” Luke nodded, already following Noah out of the room. They walked in silence for a few seconds before he had to start talking again. “So how long have you worked here?”
Noah glanced over at him, face guarded and shy. “Worked?”
His expression, combined with the confused tone, left Luke wanting to smack himself. “I thought you were a volunteer,” he explained, hoping it sounded like an apology and not sure why.
The other boy (he did look to be Luke’s age), shook his head, offering a smile again. “I guess I do, to help out and stuff. Would feel weird staying here if I didn’t pitch in.”
“Do you live here?” he asked softly, chest tightening at the thought. Who turned this person out of their house, seriously?
Noah nodded. “Since they started letting people crash here, yeah. Sometimes before that, even. If I could.” He paused in front of door, holding it open for Luke. “Reading room.”
Luke entered, looking the room over, its built-in homemade shelves stuffed with books. Handwritten signs were taped to each set of shelves, labeling different categories. “This is great,” he murmured, amazed at how much had been made from scratch.
Noah shifted a little on his feet. “Yeah, I guess.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Are you really going to give us money? Help us out?”
Luke looked back at him sharply. “How did you know about that?”
He blushed. (Oh good Lord, he’s a blusher.) “Tricia told us you were coming in so I, um, Googled you. Your foundation, I mean,” he added quickly.
Luke smiled. Grinned, even. “Well, nothing’s set in stone, it’ll be up to the board of the foundation. But, yeah. I want to.” He was a little surprised at how much he meant it. He studied Noah again. “How long have you been here?” he asked a bit more gently this time.
“Little over a year,” Noah answered reluctantly. “Since I was sixteen.”
Two years. Wow. But Luke did note two things- Noah was his age, and he was gay. Two very good things, in Luke’s opinion. “Are you going to college?”
Noah shook his head. “Can’t afford it. Yet,” he amended firmly. “I work at the diner down the street, trying to save up money, but,” he lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “It takes time.”
“I’m not going to college either,” Luke heard himself say. It shocked him more than it shocked Noah- it wasn’t something he normally liked talking about. He offered up a deprecating smile. “It’s not really for me. At least not right now. The things from high school I want to forget would just follow me there. I'm not ready yet, and sometimes life just kind of-”
“Gets in the way,” Noah finished for him with a nod. They shared the smile now.
“Yeah,” he said, sitting down on one of the worn couches in the center of the room. “Can I- can I ask how you ended up here?” He scooted over in the seat, silently inviting Noah to sit too.
He was surprised at how quick Noah’s hesitation was, and pretty soon that epically long body was sitting next to him, one leg curling up beneath him. “You can. Unless that was you asking, and now you’ll have to ask again,” he said, looking at him sideways.
Luke narrowed his eyes, still smiling. “Are you teasing me?”
Noah held up his thumb and forefinger, pinched together. “Little bit.”
Luke laughed, relaxing back some more. “You’ve been here a year?”
He grew quieter. “About, yeah. When I, well, I accidentally came out to my dad, and he kind of flipped. I really thought he was going to lock me in the basement until the army recruiters could come cart me away to basic training. But no, next day he informs me that he’s been reassigned to a new base out of state, and I’m not going with him. Not allowed to go with him.”
It was pretty silent after that. Luke made the effort to make sure he wasn’t staring, but it was hard. Whoa. It wasn’t quite the story he had been expecting, not that he had had any idea. “He just... left?”
Noah scrunched up one side of his face. It was probably supposed to be a sardonic smile, but Luke could only see how adorable it looked. “I guess. He was all packed up when I woke up the next morning. I took what was mine and watched him drive off.” He looked around the room. “Ended up here a few weeks later.”
Weeks? Luke wanted to ask but didn’t want to know the answer. How far away was that army base from here? Had Noah traveled that whole time? Had he been living on the streets that whole time? And how cliché of a phrase was ‘living on the streets’?
Noah was talking again. “When I first got to this place, I was terrified. I didn’t know if my dad would come back looking for me, or if, I don’t know, cops would be after me or some child services thing. First few weeks I was here, I didn’t even give my real name.”
“What did you use?” he asked curiously, before he could stop himself.
“Grant,” he answered, blushing yet again. “For Cary Grant. First thing I could think of. It’s lame, I know, but I also thought it would be something my dad would never think of. I wanted to hide from him.”
Luke was so a goner now. He cleared his throat, wanting to give something back. “My biological father tried to send me away when he found out last year.” Noah turned to him, blush fading some, eyes warm and interested. “I mean, I know I’m lucky. My other dad-the one who adopted me- is ridiculously supportive, and my mom got over her issues and now she’s,” he waved a hand back towards the direction of Tricia’s office. “She’s this.”
“She seems pretty amazing,” Noah murmured. Luke realized there had been no mention of a mother from Noah. Jesus.
“She is,” Luke agreed. “But my bio dad, he spent a week in town lying to me, manipulating, making me think he was on my side.”
“Until?” Noah’s voice, while gentle, held a note of anticipation to it. It was more than just being interested, Luke could tell. Noah liked storytelling. Luke’s stomach butterflied at that. Definitely, definitely his type.
He went back to his story. “He tried to force me to go to a, well, he called it an Affirmation Retreat. Really? It was a de-gaying camp. Brainwashing, reprogramming, whatever. It was bad.” Understatement. Luke could still remember the coldness of their faces, Damian’s determination. The van ride from hell. And then, just before reaching the camp, Holden and Jack Snyder blazing in like the Dukes of Hazard, pulling the van over and pulling Luke to safety.
“Where is he now?” Noah asked softly, pulling Luke back to the present.
Luke shrugged. “Europe, somewhere. My dad- the good one- sort of ran him out of town. He never wanted to accept that I was gay. Still hasn’t, as far as I know. My foundation? I started it with money he gave me, like he was trying to buy me straight or something.” He shrugged. “It didn’t really work.”
“And now you’re helping a bunch of other gay kids who need it,” Noah looked down, inspecting his hands. “That’s... that’s pretty cool of you.”
It sounded like the best compliment he’d ever heard, and now he was the one blushing. “Thanks,” he said softly. Then shook his head. “You, though, what you’ve been through... I can’t even imagine. You’re incredible, Noah.” When Noah’s head whipped up to look at him, shocked, he tried to backpedal. “Your life, I mean. What you’ve had to deal with, what you’re doing now? It’s incredible.”
Somehow, he wasn’t surprised when Noah shrugged that off. “I haven’t done anything.”
“You got yourself here,” Luke insisted. “You’re working, planning for school, figuring out your life. And helping out here. Not everyone would do that."
“You would,” Noah replied, looking like he didn’t even mean to say it out loud. “You kind of are now, aren’t you?” He shifted in his seat, which invariably brought him the tiniest bit closer to Luke. Luke didn’t mind. “Look, I know the center seems ragged and maybe like a waste of time, and I know this is about finding out what it’s really-”
“What what is about?” Luke twisted around to face Noah fully, confused.
“This,” he waved a hand between them. “Talking to me. I get it, Tricia’s trying to sell it to you, so she probably wouldn’t give you what it’s really like, and I can. But I want you to know, this place really deserves whatever help your foundation can give. I wouldn’t be here without it, if more money’s going to get more kids-”
“Whoa. Wait, wait!” Luke, on instinct, grabbed Noah’s hand, stilling it. “I’m talking to you because I want to talk to you. I’m not- this isn’t an interview, Noah. I want to know you. I... I like you.” And he really did. Noah was sincere, kind, calm. He had a quiet sense of humor and was obviously determined and smart to get himself this far on his own.
Noah’s eyebrows raised slowly. “You like me?”
Luke held up his thumb and forefinger, pinched together. “Little bit.” His other hand, he belatedly realized, was still holding Noah’s. With all the reluctance in the world, he casually let go. Noah’s hand hovered in midair for a second, like he wasn’t sure what to do with it now. And in that second, Luke was half-tempted to grab it again.
His face still red, Noah shrugged. “I’m, uh, sort of new to that stuff. The liking stuff.”
“Really?” Luke grinned. “You’re really telling me guys aren’t flirting with you every chance they get?”
Noah got a half-scandalized look on his face, like that was the most ridiculous thing in the world. “It’s not like the center has a Romantic Italian Restaurant wing. What would I do?”
Luke nudged him in the side with his elbow. “Hm, so that’d be your game, romantic Italian restaurants?”
He sputtered around an answer. “I don’t know. Yeah, maybe. Like,” he smiled, somewhere between shy and sly. It was way too good of a look on him. “If, say, I were to meet someone like you? And actually ask you out? Yeah,” he locked eyes with Luke. “I’d take you somewhere like that.”
Luke was silent and staring for a moment. “You sure you’ve never done the liking stuff before? You’re pretty good at it.”
Noah ducked his head a little, though his eyes never strayed from Luke’s. “I have some good inspiration,” he murmured.
Done. Luke was done. He moved up on his knees on the couch, leaned forward, and as gently as he could, pressed a kiss to Noah’s mouth. He had to. He had to know if Noah’s lips were as sweet as his words.
Turns out they were.
Footsteps passing by outside the door had him remembering exactly where he was. He sat back again, or at least tried to. But Noah just grabbed him and pulled him close, kissing him this time, and doing a damn good job of it. This time when they pulled back it wasn’t because of footsteps. It was lack of air.
Noah reached out, a little tentative, and tucked strands of Luke’s hair back behind his ear. “I’m going to be sad when you leave,” he said simply.
“God, I forgot I-” Luke grabbed Noah’s hand. “I didn’t mean this to be like a one-kiss-stand or anything, Noah. I really do like you. This wasn’t a, what did you call it, an interview. I...” he trailed off, a spark starting to form in his brain.
Noah was smiling at his rambling and frowning at the same time. “You what?”
“Noah, um,” Luke smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging way. “So, this Friday my mom and I are presenting the file on this center to our board for their approval. You know what might help the case?”
“What?”
“You,” he answered excitedly. “You could come to the meeting, tell your story, tell them how much the center means to you, how much it’s helped you. It would be perfect! Show them exactly who would be benefiting from the money.”
“M-me?” Noah stuttered.
“Of course,” Luke’s enthusiasm faded just a little, realizing Noah’s tension. “I mean, you don’t have to tell your whole story, or anything personal at all really. It was just an idea. I think you would do great.” He nudged Noah lightly again. “It worked on me, didn’t it?”
Noah smiled now, relaxing again. “And you- you’d be there with me, right?”
He was still holding Noah’s hand. It didn’t feel like enough now, so he leaned in and brushed a kiss across his cheek. “Absolutely. And really, there’s more incentive to do this.”
“And what’s that?” Noah was smiling. He was going to agree, Luke could just feel it.
He shrugged casually. “Oakdale’s not far from here. I mean, if you wanted to make the trip, you could always stay a little while. At least for dinner. I mean, my grandma makes some really good Italian food, if you’re into that sort of thing.”
Noah studied him for a minute, before a smile slowly spread across his face. It was one Luke hadn’t seen on him yet. Pure. Joyful. Enough to make Luke’s stomach butterfly itself up again.
“Yeah,” Noah said, his voice cracking for less than a second. “Yeah. I could be into that sort of thing.”
Luke wanted to kiss him again, but his mother’s voice from down the hallway stopped him. He stood instead, holding his hand out to pull Noah to his feet too. Maybe he couldn’t kiss Noah right now, but they had time. Just the beginning.
After all, Luke was into this sort of thing, too.